Apparatus for feeding molten glass



Aug. 29, 1939. T. F. PEARSGN APPARATUS FOR FEEDING MOLTEN GLASS FiledSept. 7, 1937 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 iigv Aug. 29, 1939. fr. F. PEARsoNAPPARATUS FOR FEEDING MOLTEN GLASS Filed Sept. 7, 1937 5 Sheets-Sheet" 2.71 hama.: 'filza/:rom

ug- 29, 1939 T. F. PEARsoN APPARATUS FOR FEEDING MOLTEN GLASS 5Sheets-Sheet I5 Filed Sept. 4'7, 1937 Fll.

Aug. 29, 1939. T. F. PEARsoN APPARATUS FOR FEEDING MoL'TEN GLASS FiledSept. 7, 1937 f 5 Sheets-Shee. 4

Aug. 29, 1939.

T. F, PEARSON APPARATUS FOR FEEDING MOLTEN GLASS Filed Sept. 7, 1937 5Sheets-Sheet 5 E5- 89/24 I K) -*--I Y* H BL 51 70 v j y 5g 7/ y sill/A lW 'l/ 5&3 59

l O/BQ v W sa 51 BQ -57 75 Patented Aug. 29, 1939 PATENT OFFICE2,171,096 APPARATUS Fon. FEEDmG MoLTEN GLASS Thomas Finney Pearson,Pontefract, England, assignor to Crown Cork & Seal Company, Inc., NewYork, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application September 7,' 1937,Serial No. 162,743 In Great Britain September 9, 1936 9 Claims.

The present invention relates to the feeding of charges of molten glassto parison moulds or the like receptacles, and in particular to thepicking up of charges of molten glass from the fore- 5 hearth of afurnace into a suction operated gathering head or mould and thedisplacement of said' head to a position in which the charge may bedropped therefrom into a parison mould or other receptacle'for furtheroperations upon the glass charge, such as the blowing of a bottle orother hollow glass article.

According to the present invention a shaft from which a gathering heador mould radially extends is displaceable both longitudinally andangularly under the action of means which are pneumatically controlledwhereby a simple yet e'icient I construction can 'be utilised forenabling a charge to be picked up from the fore-hearth, elevated withrespect thereto, sheared from the main mass of glass, then withdrawn toone side of the forehearth and deposited into a parison or other mouldfor blowing operations, the gathering head then returning to its pick upposition by a reversal of such movements.

The gathering head may be mounted upon an arm which carriers a suctionvalve and a mould opening and closing cylinder Within which apneum-atically operated piston is displaceable, the arm in turn beingmounted adjacent the upper end of a vertically disposed shaft whichpasses through a cylinder and is stepped to carry bearings for a pistonsurrounding the shaft, which piston is longitudinally displaceablewithin vsaid cylinder. ,Y t

The lower end of the shaft is splined to receiv a gear Wheel which isangularly rotated under the action of a rack which in turn islongitudinallyv displaceable by means of a. piston reciprocating Withina cylinder in accordance with the supply of compressed airgoverned bymastercontrol or timing mechanism. Thislatter cylinder., for the purposeof convenience, is'r'eferred .to as" the swing cylinder, while thelcylinder housing vthe piston carried von bearings about the shaft, for.5 convenience is referred to as the lift cylinder". The rack at onelend ofits stroke is adapted l to trip a valve which in turn blows aspoolvalve and'enables air to be supplied ltherethrough -to` one end of themould operating cylinder. "This rack is adjustable While the shaftsupporting mechanism is also adjustable on the supporting frame whichmay be the frontof the fore-hearth so as to enablev the unit to beraised or loweredl to suit varying lengths of gathering moulds. `:rSimilarly the shears `for severing the glass respectively said leversbeing pivoted' at I8 to a picked up by the gathering head are actuatedunder the control of a pneumatically operated piston reciprocable withina cylinder supported on the frame which carries the swing and lift-Acylinders and the mould opening and closing cylinder, the operation ofthe separate pistons Within their cylinders being eiected pneumaticallyand in a predetermined sequence by a master control.

The invention is more particularly described with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation partly insection of a feeder constructed according to the present invention.

Figure 2 is a corresponding plan view.

Figure 3 is a side elevation partly in sectionl showing the shearcylinder.

Figure 4 is a corresponding plan View to that of the Figure 3.

Figure 51s an elevational View partly in section of the "swing cylinder.

Figure 6 is a view of a combined spool and trip valve for controllingthe pneumatic operation of the mould opening and closing cylinder inrelation to the operation of the swing cylinder, the spool valve beingshown in section.

Figure 7 is a corresponding view at right angles to that of Figure 6 butshowing the trip valve in section.

' n Figure A8 is a general arrangement showing the `various operatingcylinders and valves diagrammatically. y s v :In the constructionaccording to the drawings a gathering head I0 made up loi relativelydisplaceable mould sections II, I2, is shownin the suction position withthe `mould sections II, l2, closed. `The mould sections'..aredis'placeable by the action of pins I3, I4, carried'by levers I5,I6,

40 bracket I'Icarrled atthe upper endfofal-shaft I9. v

I The `opposite ends of the levers {I f, =I6, are pivotally connectedthro'ughf-links'l tio/"theopposite ends of a cross headf20-`carriedby arod 2| of a piston reciprocable within a mould opening and closingcylinder 23tov the back of which pressure air isadapted to be fedthrough a pipe 24 todisplace the piston to the left inFigu-res 1 and 8and through a pipe25 at thefron't end of the cylinder to displace'the--piston to the-right in'Flgures 1 and 8. A

It will be appreciated that when the piston is displaced to the left onpressure air being supf plied through the pipe 24 thev piston rod 2| isdisplaced to the left. This carries the cross lhead 'otally supports themould sections il, l2, of the 20 with it and during said movement thecross head ultimately reaches aposition in which it is .in co-alignmentwith the links 26 to angularly displace the levers l5, 13,about theirpivots and close the mould sections il and 12. When the cross head ismoved in the reverse direction by applying pressure air through the.port 25 the mould sections are opened.

Suction is applied tothe gathering head i@ through a hollow arm 21 whichis in communication through ports 28, 23, with a suction conduit 30, avalve 3i having an annular opening 32 intermediate its ends beinglongitudinally displaceable across the ports 23,' 23 to open and closethese'at the required times.

'This valve 3l is also displaceable with the piston rod 21, thearrangement being such that the valve 3i reaches that position in whichit opens the ports 2.8, 23 .only when the sections H, i2, of thegathering head l@ are in their closed position.

Disposed horizontally but at right angles to the mould opening andclosing cylinder 23 is the shear cylinder 33, said cylinder having ports3d, 35, respectively at its back and front ends for the supply ofpressure air adapted to control the displacement of the piston 35, therod 31 of which carries a cross head 33 which in its longitudinaldisplacement with the rod is adapted to angularly displace a pair ofshears 39, i0 in opposite directions about a pivot lll. The shearcylinder is adjustably supported on a bracket 42 carried by thefore-hearth i3 of the furnace from which charges are to be drawn by thegathering head through an orifice ld in the roof of the fore-hearthformed by a top refractory cover l5 and a replaceable refractory bushingd5 which is carried in a metal holder G11-sup- 'ported by the refractorycover 55.

The vertical adjustment of the cylinder 33 and thus the verticaladjustment of the shears 39, 130, relative to the bushing 3B is underthe control of a manually operated spindle 38 and handle 49.

In order to eect a cutting operation on a withdrawn charge by theshears, pressure air is supplied to the port 3d whilst to open theshears and thus displace the piston 36 in the opposite direction,pressure air is supplied -through the port 35. The shaft L9 carrying thebracket which pivgathering head lll passes through a lift cylinder 50which is provided with ports 5I, 52, at the top and base respectively(shown only in thei'general arrangement view in Figure 8). A piston 53ndthe floating type is mounted for relative rotation about the shaft i9through a thrust race 54, but on its reciprocation within the cylinder5|] carries said shaft with it. 'Ihis shaft is raised by supplyingpressure air to the port 52 at the base of the cylinder and is loweredby supplying pressure air through the port 5I at the top of thecylinder. The shaft also passes through a box 55 which is adjustablycarried by a bracket 56 supported on the furnace fore-hearth 4L Thelength of the vertical stroke of the piston 53 and its shaft i3 isadjustable relatively to the box 55 by a hand wheel 51, while the heightof 'the box 55 and the various parts carried thereby, in-

gathering heads which may be required in withdrawing charges of glass ofvarying sizes to suit particular requirements.

A swing cylinder 5S is mounted on a bracket 33 carried by the box 55,this swing cylinder having pipes 5i, l32 located at its opposite ends 5for permitting pressure air to be supplied to the cylinder fordisplacing a piston 53 longitudinally therein, the piston carrying a rod36, the opposite end of which is formed as a rack E5 which is adapted toengage with a toothed wheel 36 carried by the shaft i9. In order topermit vertical reciprocation of the shaft whilemaintaining the wheel 53in the horizontal plane of the rod 66 and rack 65, the shaft I9 issplined at 61 and is engaged at said splined portion by the gear wheel65. L

It will thus be seen that on supplying pressure air through the port 5Iof the swing cylinder 59 the piston 53 is displaced to the left inFigure 5 inl order to rotate the shaft i9 and swing the gathering headill out of a position co-axial with the orifice ld of the fore-hearth,while to bring the gathering head back into a position vertically abovesaid oriiice B6, pressure air is supplied to the port 62 of the swingcylinder 59 whereby the shaft I9 is rotated in the opposite direction.This swinging movement is eiected solely when the shaft I3 is in itsraised position, that is to say, the gathering head lll has beenelevated relatively to the orifice 44.

Pressure air is supplied through a pipe line 68 to a timing mechanism ormaster control which consists of a number of cam operated spool valves69, 10, 1|, 12, 13 and 14, diagrammatically illustrated in Figure 8.

The separate cams for operating the spool valves 59 14 are showndiagrammatically in Figure 8 and are rotated from a common source ofpower supply through a common shaft or the like, and are arranged toactuate their 4| respective spool valves in a sequence hereinafterexplained.

The spool valve 14 when actuated allows of the passage of pressure airboth to the port 62 of the swing cylinder 59 and through a branch con 4|which in turn constitutes a branch line from the 54 main pressure airsupply pipe 68, the port 18 being controlled by a trip valve 83, thespindle 84 of which lies in the path of longitudinal displacemen't ofthe rack 65 )of the swing cylinder.

The spool valve 5 9 on operation by its cam, 5

allows of the passage of pressure air from the main air supply pipe 68to the port 35 of the cylinder 33 in order Ito close the shears whilethe spool valve 10 similarly operates to open the shears. 6

The spool valve 1| is operated by its cam to allow of pressure airsupply to the port 5| at the top of the lift cylinder 50 in order tocause the .gathering head to descend to pick up a glass charge throughthe orifice 44 of the fore- 6 hearth 43.

The valve 12 when opened allows of the passage of pressure air to theopposite `end or base ofthe lift cylinder 5Dthrough the port 52 after acharge has been picked up by suction by the 7 gathering head in order tolift said gathering head prior to being swung away from vthe verticalaxis of the orice M.

The spool valve 13 is opened in order to swing lthe gathering headoutwardly away from the ver- 7 places the spool valve 85 to the right ofFigure 6 tical axis of the orifice 44 and for this purpose, when opened,the spool valve permits of pressure air supply from the pipe 68 to therear of the swing cylinder 59 through the port 8|.

When the spool valve 14 is opened pressure air is fed from the pipe 68to the front of the "swing cylinder 59 through the port 82 in order toswing the gathering head inwardly towards the vertical axis of theoriiice 44.

While the spool valves 89 13 are being operated, pressure air is alsobeing fed from the pipe 68 through the conduit 82 to theinlet port 19 ofthe spool valve cylinder 11 and during this period the spool Valve 85within the cylinder 11 is in lthe position shown in Figure 6, that is tosay it is in such a position that pressure air passed in-to the cylinder11 through the port 19 is allowed free access through a conduit 86 inthevalve 85 to an exhaust port 80' of` the cylinder where it traverses apipe 81 and enters the mould opening and closing cylinder 23 at thefront thereof, i. e., through port 25 thereby maintaining the mouldsections of the gathering head in their open position.

When, however, the spool 14 is opened, not only is pressure air suppliedto the front of the swing cylinder 59 through the port 62, but inaddition, pressure air from the right hand end of the valve 85 (Fig. 6)is allowed to exhaust through the conduit 15 and through the exhaustport in the spool valve 14, this occurring whenthe rack 65 operates thetrip valve 83 to permit of the application of pressure air through saidvalve 83 to force the spool valve 85 (Fig. 6) to the right. As soon asthe spool valve is forced to the right of Figure 6 the inlet port 19through the ducts 86 is in communication with the exhaust port 8| thusallowing the application of pressure air through a conduit 88 to therear end of the mould opening and closing cylinder 23 via the port 24thereof. This action causes the mould sections of the gathering head toclose.

The cycle of operations is as follows:

With the parts shown in the'positions indicatedA spool valve 12 by itscam which permits of the supply of pressure air cylinder 58. i

On reaching the top of the vertical stroke of the shaft I9 pressure a`iris supplied from the main air pipe 88 through the spool valve 69 to thebase of the shear cylinder 33 whereby the shears are closed to sever thecharge in the gathering head. The spool valve 18 is substantiallyimmediately operated to interconnect the conduit 88 with the top oftheshear cylinder through the port 35 therebyausing theshears to open andwhen this operation has been performed the spool valve 13 is then openedby its cam to allow of the passage of pressure air to the back of theswing" cylinder 59 vthrough the port 6I, thus causing the shaft I9 tovrotate aboutV its own vertical axis and'l'the armv21 lwith Athegathering head thereby to swing outwardly away from the vertical axis.of the orice 44. While this is happening the mould sections remainclosed. At the completion of the swinging movement, however, the Vracl:65 trips the valve 83 which in .turn disto the base of the lift andallows of passage of pressure air from the supply pipe 88 through aconduit 82, ports 19,

8|, conduit 88 and port 24 to the back of the mould opening and closingcylinder 23, whereupon the mould sections II, I2, are opened to allowthe charge in the gathering head to be deposited to a parison or othermould of the forming machine.

The spool valve 14 is then operated to apply pressure air through theport 62 to the front of the swing cylinder 59 and thus cause thegathering head to swing back towards the vertical axis of the orifice 44of the fore-hearth. Simultaneously pressure air is also fed through thespool valve 14, conduit 15 and port 16 into the right hand end of thespool valve cylinder 11 to cause the spool valve 85 to move to the left(Fig. 6) and thus establish connection between the inlet port 19 of thespool valve cylinder 11 and the exhaust port 80 thereof,v whereuponpressure air is fed through the conduit 81 and the port 24 to the rearof the mould opening and closing cylinder 23. This eiects closing of themould sections.

The last operation in the cycle iseffected by opening of the spool valve1I of the timing mechanism wherebypressure air from the conduit 68 isfed through the port 5I into the top of the lift cylinder to cause theshaft I9 t0 descend to the position shown in Figure 1 whereupon thecycle of operations is repeated.

It will be appreciated that each spool valve 69 14 allows oftheapplication of pressure air and of exhaust thereof when required, thatis to say when not delivering pressure air to one end of a cylinder forthe purpose of displacing the piston thereof in a direction towards theopposite end, each spool valve permits of exhaust of pressure air fromsaid first mentioned end when the piston is displaced in the reversedirection, by the application of air under pressure to the opposite end.

Cushion valves 89 may be provided in the conduits between the valves 6914 of the timing mechanism and the various cylinders, and also in theconduits 81, 88 between the cushion valve 85 and the mould opening andclosing cylinder 23.

It will, of course, be appreciated that with the present inventioncharges of glass may be picked up from the fore-hearth 43 of the furnaceeither by permitting the gathering head I8 to descend into chargingcontact with the molten glass in the orifice 44, or alternatively by themethod and with the apparatus described in the specication of myco-pending patent application No. 151,010. l

I declare that what I claim is- 1. Apparatus for' feeding molten glassfrom furnace, comprising a suction operated gathering head includingrelatively displaceable mould sections, pneumaticallyoperated'. shearsfor severing the charges v lied up by lsaid head, pneumatically operatedn means simultaneously controlling suction to'fand 'opening and closingof said mould sections, pneumatically operated means forvertically'displacing said head, pneumatically operated'meansl forswinging said head towards'and away from its position at which it picksup charges'by suction,` and a master control for the actuation of saidpneumatically operated means in predetermined sequence.

2. Apparatus for feeding molten glass from a furnace comprising asuction operated gathering head including relatively displaceable mouldsections for picking up glass charges through an orice in a furnace,shears for severing the glass picked up by the head from the mass ofglass in the furnace, means for applying suction to said head, means forvertically displacing said head in a direction coaxially of saidorifice, means for swinging said head towards and away from the agis ofsaid orifice, pneumatically ,operated means for terminating theapplication of suction to said head and for simultaneously relativelydisplacing the mould sections to open the mould, and a control valve forthe actuating air for the last-mentioned means, said valve beingoperated at a predetermined time by the means for swinging the head awayfrom the axis of th'e orifice.

3. Apparatus for feeding molten glass from a furnace comprising asuction operated gathering head including relatively displaceable mouldsections, pneumatically operated shears fer severing the charges pickedup by said head, pneumatically operated means simultaneously controllingsuction to and opening and closing of said mould sections, an armcarrying said head, a shaft carrying said arm, pneumatically operatedmeans for vertically displacing said shaft and for independentlyrotating said shaft irrespective of its vertical displacement, and amaster control for the actuation of said pneumatically operated means inpredetermined sequence. 4

4. Apparatus for feeding molten glass from a furnace comprising asuction operated gathering head including relatively displaceable mouldsections, pneumatically operated shears for severing the charges pickedup by said head, pneumatically operated means simultaneously controllingsuction to and opening and closing of said mould sections, a radial armcarrying said head, a shaft carrying said radial arm, a pneumaticallyoperated piston, rack and pinion for rotating said shaft about its ownaxis to swing said head, a pneumatically operated piston for displacingsaid shaft axially to lift and lower said head, a thrust race betweensaid axially displacing piston and said shaft, and a master control forthe 'actuation of said pneumatically operated .means in predeterminedsequence.

5. Apparatus for feeding molten glass from a furnace, comprising asuction operatedgathering head including relatively displaceable mouldsections,A pneumatically operated shears for severing the charges pickedup by said head, pneumatically operated means simultaneously controllingsuction to and opening. and closing of said mould sections,pneumatically operated means for vertically displacing said head,pneumatically operated means for swinging said head towards and awayfrom its position at which it\ picks up charges by suction, a mastertiming control including a number of cam operated spool valves for theactuation of said pneumatically operated means in predeterminedsequence, and separate control including a trip valve between saidtiming control and one of said pneumaticmeans, for opening and closingsaid mould sections at predetermined positions in the cycle ofoperations under the control of saidy master timer. v'

6. Apparatus for feeding molten glass from a furnace, comprising asuction operated gathering head including relatively displaceablemould)R fore-hearth,

armoe@ sections, a hollow radial arm carrying said head, a splinedvertical shaft carrying said radial arm, suction applying means,pneumatically operated `means adapted both to cut off said arm from saidsaid pneumatically operated means in predetermined sequence, and a tripvalve engaged by said rack for separately controlling said mould openingand closing means.

7. Apparatus for feeding molten glass from a forehearth, comprising a.suction operated gathering head including relatively displaceable mouldsections, means for raising and lowering said head, means for swingingthe head laterally :from a gathering position to a discharge position,means for relatively displacing said mould sections to open said mouldand simultaneously to terminate the suction in the mould, and controlmeans for said last-mentioned means operated by said means for swingingthe -head to said discharge position, at a predetermined point in theswinging movement of the head, whereby the mould sections are maintainedclosed and the charge is held therein by suction until said dischargeposition is reached, whereupon the sections are opened and the suctionsimultaneously terminated, to effect a discharge of the mould contents.

8. Apparatus for feeding molten glass from a fore-hearth, comprising asuction operated gathering head including relatively displaceable mouldsections, means for raising and lowering said head, means for swingingthe head laterally from a gathering position to a discharge position, avalve for controlling the suction in the mould, pneumatic means foropening and closing the mould sections, a connection between saidpneumatic means and said valve, whereby the valve is closedsimultaneously with opening of the mould sections, a control valve forthe operating air leading to said pneumatic means, and means actuated bythe means for swinging the head for operating said valve.

9. Apparatus for feeding molten glass from a comprising a suctionoperated gathering head including relatively displaceable mouldsections, pneumatic means for raising and lowering said head, pneumaticmeans for swinging the head laterally between a gathering position and adischarge position, pneumatic 'means for relatively displacing saidmould sections to open and close said mould and for simultaneouslyterminating and establishing suction in, the mould, a timer forcontrolling the ow of actuating air to the first-mentioned two means,and separate valve means for controlling the application of actuatingair to the last-mentioned means, and means actuated by the means forswinging the head laterally for operating said separate valve means,simultaneously to open said mould and cut oi the suction therein.

THOMAS FINNEY PEARSON.

